Singapore has confirmed it has selected the Colt Infantry Automatic Rifle as its next standard-issue automatic weapon in its army, replacing a homegrown design that has been in service for over 40 years.
Singapore’s Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) told ADM that its army “has conducted extensive trials and evaluations of various weapon models, as part of continued force modernisation efforts. The Colt Infantry Automatic Rifle has been assessed to be a suitable replacement for the Section Automatic Weapon (SAW)”.
ADM had reached out to the ministry with a series of questions after the Singapore Army released a video summary of its previous work year with a short segment showing the Colt IAR being fired at a weapons range with the caption accompanying the segment referred to it as the “New Section Automatic Weapon”.
However, it did not reveal when the selection decision was made, how many IARs were acquired, the contract value or if there was an agreement to produce the weapons in country. It had also not previously announced that it was seeking a new SAW.
The southeast Asian island nation has had a long history of producing individual weapons for its army, beginning with licence production of the Colt AR-15 and M-16 assault rifle as its standard-issue rifle beginning in the 1970s and eventually introducing its own indigenous designs.
The Colt IAR will replace the ST Engineering Land Systems’ Ultimax 100, which has been in service with Singapore’s military since 1982 in its Mk.2 and Mk.3 subvariants. The Colt IAR and Ultimax 100 took part in the Marine Corps’ IAR competition, which was won by Heckler and Koch’s M27 in 2009.
It has also not been revealed what other alternatives were evaluated by Singapore before the IAR was selected. ST Engineering would almost certainly have offered updated versions of the Ultimax 100, with the Mk.8 version having been showcased by the company since 2012.
The move away from an indigenous weapon has raised eyebrows given the Singapore Army’s seven-man sections has been equipped with all homegrown weapons since 1999 when the licence-produced M-16S1 rifle began to be phased out in favour of the ST Engineering SAR-21 bullpup rifle.
The IAR was previously known as the Colt IAR6940 and has its origins in its M-16/M-4 series of weapons, sharing several common components including its barrel compensator, bolt carrier group and charging handle assembly. It fires NATO standard 5.56x45mm ammunition and weighs 4.32 kilograms empty.
However, a key difference of the Colt IAR from the M-16/M-4 is that the IAR operates via direct gas impingement instead of the traditional gas piston, according to small arms website Defense Review.
It also features a one-piece upper receiver and a large heat sink below the barrel to better draw heat out of the barrel during extended periods of firing. The upper receiver and heat sink were clearly visible in the video released by the Singapore Army.
Colt, which is now a subsidiary of Czech company Colt CZ Group, had previously sold its IAR to Mexico’s Marine Corps.